


Dead World

by oursisthefury



Category: The Walking Dead (TV), iZombie (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Work In Progress, borrows ideas from izombie, kind of a happy fic I guess, zombie glenn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 02:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oursisthefury/pseuds/oursisthefury
Summary: Glenn works a shitty job delivering pizzas, one day he goes to a party and wakes up a zombie. Now he has to survive in a world that hates zombies. Maybe someday, he'll make people understand that not all zombies are bad.





	1. Chapter 1

He never should've gone to that party. He never should've delivered pizzas in the the first place. He never should've let himself be coerced by the party. It was a horrible mistake. And it would only get worse from there. 

Glenn woke up to the sound of loud blasting music and the cheering of several wasted teenagers. He was passed out on the dance floor, the dancers barely avoiding him. He felt bruised, confused, delirious but most of all... Hungry. Why was he so hungry? He looked up, the strobe lights making him dizzy and decided that he needed to leave as quickly as possible. So hungry. He eased himself up off the floor, and forced his way through the crowd. No one seemed to care how forceful he was, they were all high. So hungry. He shoved open the door and staggered out, dawn was beginning to break. He'd been there all night? Oh no.

Glenn doubled over, taking a few deep breathes before looking back up to see a few drunk girls staggering home. One of them was leaning heavily on the other, her friend barely supporting her as she leaned over and spewed vomit on the grass. Glenn started salivating at the sight, and an intense hunger hit him. Oh come on... That couldn't be the first that he found appetizing? What was wrong with him? And then in the light, he saw it. A deep scratch on his right arm. That didn't look good. He was panicking now, why did he crave humans so badly? Human brains, specifically. Was he...? No! That couldn't be it! He wasn't a zombie. He wasn't.

He staggered over to a nearby deserted gas station and saw a vending machine. Hurriedly, he put some money in for a bag of chips, feeling like he could smash the glass. He ripped open the bag and ate a handful. It didn't taste anything. Glenn devoured the whole bag, but no taste came to him. That's when a wave of hunger hit him and he found himself heading towards a nearby alley. There a body lay, a man who had succumbed to a drug overdose. Glenn growled and seized a brick, smashing in the man's skull at get at the brains. Grabbing handfuls of the brain matter along with crushed skull, he began to feast. It tasted disgusting but it sated his hunger. It felt like forever until he was finally himself again and had realized what he'd done.

Glenn bolted, covering up his bloodstained shirt with his hoodie and raced to his car which was still parked and he hadn't lost the keys, thankfully. Panting, he turned on the car and was about to back out when he noticed something strange in the mirror. His hair. It had white streaks in it. Had someone dyed it? While he was unconscious? No time to dwell on it, it was time to leave.

A half an hour later, he was back at his dingy apartment with fifty messages from his boss on his phone. He checked the messages in his inbox, they couldn't be good. They ranged from swearing to unintelligible mumbling. "You think you can just leave work?!" The first one barked. "Not picking up or coming back, huh? I checked where you last delivered! At a goddamn party! I bet you're getting all fucked up there, asshole!" The second one he chose to listen to screamed and he winced. He clicked through them to the last one. "Don't even bother coming back to work, you're fired!" CLICK. Great, he didn't have job now either. 

Glenn shrugged off his now bloody hoodie and shirt in the bathroom. He noticed that the scratch on his arm had disappeared. Strange. He looked in the mirror to see his dark hair turning even whiter. No wonder all the other zombies had white hair but why wasn't he as mindless as them? It didn't matter, he needed to figure out how to survive now. But first, he needed hair dye and he needed brains.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking into the city was rough, because he was kinda broke, he didn't want to waste money driving into the city, but it was awful. Every time he walked by someone, he imagined himself crushing their skull and tearing out their brains. He shivered and made it to the nearest drugstore to buy some hair dye. He bought two of the cheapest kind of dye but the prices still put him out. Sighing, he set them down on the counter, slouching into his non bloody hoodie. "Need a new look, huh?" The cashier asked in monotone as he rung Glenn up. "Yeah, I'm tired of this one." He answered, paying. "Have a nice day." The cashier went on to say. 'I wish.' Glenn thought. "You too." He replied, slipping outside.

Now where was he gonna get brains? He suspected if he didn't find any, he'd become a mindless monster like the others. He thought of grave robbing for a start. He didn't want to do that and he knew in the first wave, most people had started to burn their dead friends and family in hopes of them not rising. And he could do nothing with ashes. Luckily, some people still didn't burn them. They instead would shoot or stab them through the head and bury them. The problem was, those were under guard in case someone didn't do a good job and the dead rose. He'd have to act quickly and quietly if wanted any brains from there.

Glenn went home, depressed, he didn't want to kill others or steal their dead for brains but he'd die otherwise. It looked like he'd be dying soon, by his own hands.

He checked new job offers on his shitty computer, seeing none he wanted until one caught his eyes. "Grave digger wanted at local cemetery." It was perfect.

The first day of his job, after he'd dyed his hair back to normal and packed a few tupperware containers in his bag, went rather well. "You really want this job?" The manager asked him, raising an eyebrow. "Delivering pizzas was boring." Glenn shrugged. "Okay..." The manager trailed off before showing him the ropes.

Glenn was left alone, digging which was hard work but he didn't feel tired. He was so close to an unburned body, he could feel his mouth start to water and his stomach growl. And then after digging a deep hole, he lowered the coffin in and opened it up. It was rough seeing a decomposing corpse, the corpse he'd feasted on before had been fresh, nothing like this. It was disgusting. The smell was horrible, cloyingly sweet, with scents of decay. He gagged and looked for something to crack open the head. The only thing there was the shovel, he grabbed it, thankful that it was the dead of night and split the head open. The impact made a gross squishing sound and he felt bile rise in his throat. Choking it back down, he surveyed his meal. The brains were not fresh, they were gray, old and mushy. He resisted the urge to vomit once more as he scooped the mush into a container and hid it away. After he'd removed all the brains, he wiped off the shovel and covered the body. He then buried it and that was the only corpse that he buried that night.

He got home around three am and kicked off his shoes before heading in the shower. Dirt washed off him in droves, but thankfully, he didn't work that often according to his schedule.

He thought about trying the brain that he'd retrieved from the graveyard but it was so gross. Finally, his hunger got the better of him and he opened the container, tore off a chunk and shoved the rest into the back of the fridge. The brain looked disgusting, sludgy and rotted, so he rummaged through the fridge for something to disguise the taste. The only thing that he could find was a bottle of hot sauce. He basically emptied the entire bottle over the brain and hesitantly took a bite. It was gross but the hot sauce helped a lot and wasn't overwhelming surprisingly. He felt full, well, for now anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

It was hard living in a world that hated zombies. He knew why they hated them but since he was one of them now, it was hard. He was in constant fear of the zombie hunters that protected the city, finding him out. Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier and Andrea Harrison just to name a few of them. Grimes' wife had been killed by zombies during the first wave and his daughter had almost gotten eaten during the second. So he was not a huge fan of them. Neither was Peletier, whose daughter had also gotten eaten during the first wave like Grimes' wife. Dixon's brother had vanished during the first wave, presumed dead and Harrison's sister had also been devoured in the first wave. He couldn't recall Walsh's story though but the man was damn good at killing zombies. And that was what scared him so much.

What if someone dug up the bodies that he was burying? They'd find all of them missing their brains and that wouldn't go over well. Besides, did they even know that a zombie like him existed? There had to be others like him out there, just hiding in plain sight, suffering like him. Or did they end themselves already? He'd considered that but was too much of a coward. Besides, he proposed that he could only die by being shot in the head and he didn't own a gun so that would be hard. Glenn sighed and flopped down on the couch, clicking on the tv, the news came on. "Zombie Hunters take down more zombies outside city walls." The news header read and then the screen flashed to blurred out images of white haired corpses being dragged away towards a large bonfire. And then it flashed to the heroes themselves, being congratulated. "We, uh, we just thought that there were too many by the wall and they needed to go." The man he recognized to be Rick Grimes was saying as reporters swarmed him. "So we rounded them up and took care of them."

"Yes, it's dangerous and yes, I would not recommend leaving the city unless you are a professional." Andrea Harrison was saying into a microphone. "But what if you have relatives in the other cities that we've lost contact with?" A reporter asked her. "Then I would say that it would be useless to waste your life trying to find them when they're probably dead." The woman said bluntly, her gaze hard and unwavering. "Is hope so useless?" Another reporter asked. Andrea opened her mouth to reply but Carol stepped in. "No but too much hope can get you killed." The woman stated and a murmur of agreement went through the crowd. 

The camera swiveled back to Grimes where he was now standing with Dixon and Walsh. All three men looked happy and they were grinning and hugging each other. Glenn didn't understand how they could be so happy with all the horror that they'd seen. And he couldn't understand how they were brave enough to venture beyond the wall either. He didn't want to meet up with them ever. "Well I always feel safe if I have my family watching out for me," Rick was saying now. "Family?" A reporter interjected. "Yeah, everyone in my team is my family. We all watch out for each other, we see each other every day and we get along perfectly." Glenn doubted that slightly, he'd heard rumors that Shane had slept with Rick's late wife Lori and that the baby was Shane's instead of Rick's but the two men seemed happy enough. They were hugging now and laughing. 

"Our hunting methods?" Shane was being flocked by reporters now. "Well this crazy fuck," He pointed to Daryl and the TV station didn't have time to block it out. "Shit, I didn't mean- Ah never mind, as I was saying, Daryl here hunts them with a freaking crossbow. He's so accurate with that thing, never misses, and always collects the arrows." He wrapped an arm around Daryl's shoulders and pulled him closer. "Can't waste the arrows." Daryl shrugged when questioned about how dangerous it was to go and collect all of them. "Mr. Grimes, how's your son?" A reporter piped up. "Oh, Cooorrraaallll," Rick drawled, he always seemed to say his son's name oddly. "I've been teaching him stuff and thangs, teaching him how to defend himself." "Will he be hunting zombies soon?" The reporter questioned. "No, I don't want that life for him yet. We have enough for our group but of course, we always welcome more in but my son won't be joining us as much as he wants to." His son Carl had seen some pretty fucked up shit in the first and second wave and Rick was extremely protective of him. 

Glenn felt sick, soon everyone in the city would know how to kill a zombie and they'd be after him. He turned off the TV just as the two women were complaining about the men getting all the attention. If he ever found out who scratched him at the party, he'd kill them. But first, he'd ask them why they did it, was it an accident or did they do it purposely? Maybe he'd never know. There were hundreds of people at that party, he'd never track them down. Glumly, he pulled some brains out the fridge and started prepping his dinner. He'd been trying new ways to eat the brains lately, stirring them into a bowl of noodles, drowning them in soup, baking them and of course, all of the dishes were always doused in hot sauce so that he could actually taste them. Today, he chopped them up and threw them on top of a microwaveable pizza and poured hot sauce all over it. It was actually pretty good. 

\----------------

That night, he went to his shift at the graveyard and stayed there way past his normal time. There was so much to do but he got a lot of brains out of it. Around six am, he was done after having arrived around twelve but he wasn't even tired. Zombie perks he supposed, he didn't even sleep much anymore which was kind of nice but kind of bad because he missed sleeping sometimes; though now he got more stuff done. He pulled on a hoodie, he wore those a lot because his skin had become so unnaturally pale and pulled his duffel bag over his shoulder and headed out. Sometimes, he didn't even drive to work because he lived nearby, he found that out and it had surprised him, he liked to walk home. The sun was just rising and the air was still slightly chilly. He spaced out for a bit as he walked down the alleyways that he considered 'secret' because he never saw anyone else. Then he heard footsteps, racing towards him and before he knew it, someone had collided with him and both of them flew down from the collision. 

His duffel bag flew off his shoulder from impact and he saw with dismay after he hit the ground that it had become unzipped and several containers with brains had fallen out on to the ground. And they were clear containers. Scrambling to his feet, he saw who had collided with him, it was a beautiful young woman with short brown hair looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, I should've watched where I was going. Let me help you pick up your stuff." She said with a thick country accent as she moved to pick up the containers and before he could stop her, she already had one in her hand. He saw his life flash before his eyes, he was fucked.


	4. Chapter 4

"NO, no! It's fine, you don't need to!" Glenn yelped, trying to reach for the container she was holding. "Huh? No, I- What's in this?" The woman asked, confused as she turned the container over in her hands. He swallowed nervously, "My, uh, science project for college." "This looks like a brain." She said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. 'Haha, yeah. I'm a freaking zombie. You caught me.' The words raced through his mind, he couldn't admit that. "Cow brains, yeah. I'm working on stuff to see if I can figure out the epidemic that's plaguing us." He lied smoothly. "Really? That's wonderful! It'll be so nice to finally get rid of it... Then I can go back to my home..." The woman trailed off. "Home?" Glenn asked. "Well yes, I-" A low groan followed by shuffling sounds caused her to stop and both of them turned around. 

A figure was lurching towards them, one of its legs dragging slightly with the foot twisted around as it reached towards them. As it got closer, its jaw hung loosely on its face, rotting away, and its eyes were distant and glazed over. It was once a man but it was no longer. The woman gasped beside Glenn and backed away. "It's one of them!" She said in a horrified whisper. "I thought I heard something behind me earlier which is why I was running but..." Glenn stepped in front of her protectively and looked around for something to throw. He could see nothing, and wondered if running was the best option but what if it came upon someone less capable of defending themselves? A sudden adrenaline rush or something overtook him as he charged at the zombie and knocked it flat on the ground. One of its flailing limbs raked its nails into the exposed skin of his left wrist, drawing blood and another scratch caught him across the face. 

While he had it on the ground, he stomped once on its head, with a sickening crunch but still it groaned and waved its limbs around. He stomped again and again and again until its head had exploded into a mess of skull, flesh, blood and brains on the pavement. Panting, he regained himself before turning to the shocked looking woman behind him. "It's- it's dead now." He said even though that was quite obvious. "You got scratched. You need help." She stated, grabbing the wrist that he was scratched on. "I'm fine, I-" Glenn noticed that the scratches seemed to be gone and he wiped away the blood. There were no marks on his skin, it was like he'd never been scratched. "See? It was nothing." He assured her. "But I saw you and you had scratches on your face just a moment ago." She protested, looking at him oddly. "I don't know, I didn't feel anything." He lied, he had felt something. "You have white streaks in your hair now. Your hair was all black before." The woman said accusingly. 

Glenn cursed aloud, that adrenaline rush... It had caused his zombie state to break through. "There's something strange about you." She continued. "The hair, the brains in your bag, the way you just attacked that thing... What are you?" She asked him sharply, letting go of his arm. "I, um, I..." He stuttered, starting to sweat. He was caught. She was beyond suspicious, it was like she knew. "I'm-I'm a zombie." Glenn admitted, defeated. "Really? But you're not like the rest of them." She pointed out. "Yes, I'm more in control. If I eat brains, I can keep myself human, well as human as I can get." He explained. "And where are you getting these brains?" Her voice didn't waver. "I work at a graveyard as a grave digger, I steal the brains from the dead that I bury." "Oh. How long have you been a zombie?" "Less than a month."

"What happened?" She questioned, curious. "I used to deliver pizzas and I delivered some to a party. The next thing I know is I'm waking up at dawn on the dance floor, craving brains with my hair all white, also with a scratch on my arm." He told her. "That's awful..." She remarked. "Yeah, it's been hard." There was then a silence between them.

The woman broke the silence. "Thanks for stopping that thing back there... My name's Maggie Greene, what's yours?" He wasn't expecting that. "Glenn Rhee." Maggie smiled at him. "Well Glenn, we should probably pick these brains up and hide them before anyone comes by." 

\--------------------------------------

He soon learned from Maggie after only days of friendship that she hated her life in the city. She came from the country, which didn't surprise him, a nice farm but she and her family had been forced to leave it and come to the city. Her family consisted of her younger sister, Beth and her father, Hershel. The rest of her family had come to an unpleasant end that she didn't want to talk about just yet. But she did mention that her father thought that those who were turned could be cured, brought back from their sick state and that he would be delighted to know about Glenn. He hadn't wanted her to tell her father, he was wary and she hadn't told him for his sake. 

"What if you get found out by someone other than me?" Maggie asked him worriedly one day as they were eating cheap takeout in his apartment. He'd mixed brains in his and poured hot sauce all over it. She had asked him about all the hot sauce early on and he told her it was the only way that he could taste anything. "I don't think that will happen." Glenn replied, stirring his noodles. They'd ordered Chinese food. "I'm careful." He added. "Like you were with me? With those brains spilling on the ground?" Maggie raised an eyebrow at him. "That was a fluke." He said, but she seemed worried. "I don't want you to get hurt, Glenn. If anyone else finds out, they could tell them." She was referring to the Zombie Hunters, and he didn't doubt that they'd have no problem putting him down. "I won't get hurt, I'll be fine. They won't know. They won't find out." He assured her. 

"But I've been thinking, Maggie, since I'm immune to other zombies, do you know how much good I could do outside of the city?" Maggie stiffened beside him, "Glenn..." "I mean imagine me going out there and saving people. I don't even think that zombies are interested in me since I'm one of them." He continued on. "I could slip into a hoard of zombies and come out unharmed. I could do amazing things." He finished, looking at her. She looked worried. "Glenn, it's too dangerous. Tell me you aren't really thinking of going out there." Glenn laughed, "Of course not, it's just a silly fantasy." But it was bothering him, he could be really useful if he just got out there...


End file.
